Men’s squad loses ‘Super’ Mario to injury

10/18 - The Freemen men’s soccer squad played a busy weekend’s worth of matches this past week as they faced off against St. Boniface University on Thursday, hosted the Canadian Mennonite University Blazers on Saturday, and then travelled to Winnipeg on Sunday afternoon to face a strong University of Winnipeg Wesmen squad in what would be a battle to see who would finish atop the MCAC’s regular season standings.

Thursday’s game saw the Freemen fall behind early as St. Boniface was able to take advantage of an awning goal to earn the lead. However, Providence responded quickly as they worked the ball up quickly down the right side and had Andry Giesbrecht put away a through ball sent on by sophomore Miguel Fictoria.

Providence then faced the Canadian Mennonite University Blazers on Saturday in a game that saw the Freemen see many losses. Both sides played a tight match early on, as Providence earned multiple scoring opportunities but weren’t able to put any away, while the Blazers put out a strong defend to counter approach. However, the Freemen were finally able to take the lead after a hand ball in the box allowed for captain Yohannes Asrat to bury a shot and put the Freemen up 1-0.

Providence then suffered its third major loss of the season, as ‘Super’ Mario Giesbrecht came out the worse in a challenge near the Blazers’ goal that saw him sprain both his ankle and MCL, and was carried off the field after a large delay.

The Freemen then suffered further at the hands of a couple of unfortunate calls late in the half. In the 60th minute, Asrat was given a red card as he jumped to avoid a late slide tackle and inadvertently clipped the CMU player on his way back down. Forward Brendan Wiens was then sent off minutes later, after earning his second yellow for tackles unhappily received by the official.

In the end, the Freemen were able to put out a tenacious defensive effort to ward against the two man advantage for the final 20 minutes, and also earned two scoring chances in the process. Freshman keeper Kyle Perry earned the clean sheet.

The Freemen then faced their final test of the weekend, as they faced a skilled Wesmen squad with a shortened two-man bench in a match-up that would see the winner clinch 1st in the MCAC standings. The two sides then engaged in a very entertaining and skillful match-up, as both sides played one another straight-up and sportsmanlike, allowing for a fast-paced back-and-forth match.

However, the Wesmen proved to be the stronger side throughout the game, as they were able to finish chances and put together lethal attacks to finish the scoring at 5-0 in their favor. The Freemen were also able to put together strong attacks of their own, but Wesmen’s keeper put out an impressive performance, making several highlight saves to earn the clean sheet.